Reluctant Orator

Synopsis

To put food on the table, silence his wife’s complaints, keep his mother from death’s door and get his bus back on the road, Yaw, a young Ghanaian man, has been left with no other alternative. He must turn to the grand, ceremonial tradition of his Ghanaian ancestors – funeral oration – to get him out of his escalating financial predicament. The problems are traditionally this is women’s work, and Ghanaian men do not cry!

Production

Writer’s Statement

Set in Kumasi, the Ashanti region of Ghana, where funerals take place most weekends Yaw reluctantly has to turn to a profession that was practised by his mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. These women were funeral ‘Criers.’ Such was their empathy for human relationships that their powerful words brought all the mourners (from the family to the caterers) to uncontrollable tears. It was a talent and knowledge that only a privileged few had and, due to his heritage, one that was inevitably passed down to Yaw.